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Season Records: (W-L)

33-21

(Home: 17-7)

40-13

(Away: 17-9)

Upcoming Games:

Apr 07

Apr 09

Apr 11

Apr 13

Apr 14

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Projected Starting Lineup:

C

PF

SF

SG

PG

HIBBERT

WEST

GRANGER

GEORGE

COLLISON

Projected Starting Lineup:

C

PF

SF

SG

PG

PERKINS

IBAKA

DURANT

SEFOLOSHA

WESTBROOK

PacersKyrylo Fesenko, getting into wacky hijinks in Point Place, WI, out

ThunderEric Maynor, torn ACL, out

Minimally Relevant Video:

Semi-Relevant Video:

Eight Points, Nine Seconds Preview Review:

Tim Donahue: By the Numbers - The Homestretch

Time for another installment of the By The Numbers series? Indiana has adirty dozen games left. It’s April, and the playoff race is in full swing, solet’s look at the big numbers.

31-21

After the win in Washington, Chris Denari mentioned something I had notrealized – the 33rd win of the season for the Pacers guaranteed that Indywould be .500 or better for the first time since 2006. Good on them.

As I mentioned at the All Star break, the season has been a little uneven.Indy is only 17-15 after a 16-6 start, but to be anything less than thrilledwith where the Pacers stand right now is more indicative of wildlyinappropriate expectations than any shortfall by the Pacers.

Most impressive, the Pacers are 16-14 on the road. They are one gameaway from reaching coach Frank Vogel’s goal of a winning record awayfrom home. To give you an idea of how big of a deal that is, the NBAhas averaged fewer than 8 winning road teams per season over the last12 years. The Pacers’ road record is sixth best in the league, and one ofonly seven winning road records in the league this year.

9th, 8th

As it stands right now, the Pacers in are in the top ten in both Defensive(9th) and Offensive (8th) efficiency. Should Vogel’s squad finish theseason this way, it will be the first time since 2004 that the Pacers haveaccomplished such a feat.

To further understand how impressive this would be, it should be notedthat this would be only the fourth time Indiana has been in the top ten atboth ends in their 37-year NBA history. Besides 2004, they also did it in1995 and 1998. In all three of those seasons, the Pacers made it to theEastern Conference Finals. That 1998 team, in my opinion, was the bestNBA Pacer team ever.

.579, .362

Those two numbers represent the Pacers’ shooting at the rim and from16-23 feet according to Hoopdata. This is a mixed bag.

The .579 at the rim is an improvement from the last time we spoke (.556),and Indiana is no longer dead last in the Association. They have clawedtheir way past New Jersey and even Charlotte to stand 28th! Yay! But,really, they’re still bad at the rim. Roy Hibbert (.557), David West (.560),and Darren Collison (.531) 40% of Indy’s shots here, and their collective.551 is worse than any team in the league. Paul George remains strong atthe rim - shooting .638 on the second most attempts on the team (163) –and he’s joined by Tyler Hansbrough (.633) as the only Pacers hitting betterthan the league average .627.

At .362, Indy has creeped out of the bottom five, but they’re still wellshort of the .379 league average. David West is back to .470, matchinglast year’s sterling percentage. Darren Collison is up to .420, as that littlepull up has become a reliable weapon.

Tyler Hansbrough is still at .340, which I still believe is killing his offensivegame. Last season...CONTINUE READING AT 8p9s

Daily Thunder

Clutch squared: Westbrook and Durant are figuring it out

Ever since “The Altercation,” things have really cooled on the “RussellWestbrook and Kevin Durant can’t co-exist front.” Mainly because theThunder have risen to the best team in the West while Westbrook andDurant have looked equally spectacular.

They’re the top scoring duo in the league averaging a combined 51.9points per game. They’ve both scored 40-plus in a game together twicethis season, something no other duo in NBA history has done. Sincethe start of 2010-11 season Durant and Westbrook have each scored20-plus points in a game 70 times, most in NBA. I could go on, but Ithink you get it. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are very good.

And yet, there’s this perception. I say “this perception” because I’mnot even sure if I know what it is anymore. Some think Westbrook isa ball-hog. Some think Durant and Westbrook hate each other. Somethink Westbrook and Durant are locked in a battle for alpha dogsupremacy. Some get locked into rudimentary statlines that explainnothing about the way Durant and Westbrook play together. Somejust think they don’t play basketball very well together.

But those that have watched the Thunder play this season, they’veseen an interesting dynamic. Westbrook and Durant appear to begetting along very well on the basketball court. Oklahoma City’srecord (37-12) should say enough, but the question is if Westbrookand Durant can, or will, succeed in the postseason. The spotlight willbe on and every fourth quarter jumper that Westbrook takes will becriticized, analyzed and scrutinized.

I’m trying to get out in front of that with this. So let’s start with thisstat: In terms of “clutch” scoring, which is defined as the final fiveminutes (and overtime) of a game with a margin of five or less,Durant leads the league with 126 points. Joe Johnson and Chris Paulare second with 109. Westbrook is fourth with 102. Kobe is fifth is100. Consider this too though: Durant is shooting 41.1 percent in theclutch, Westbrook 49.3 percent. (Kobe? He’s at 31.3 percent. Justwanted to toss that out there.)

The Thunder, who have played a good number of close games, havescored 277 points as a team in the clutch. Durant and Westbrook havecombined for 228 of them. The Thunder have been one of the bestteams at closing close games, and that’s been largely due to thesuccess of Westbrook and Durant operating in those moments. Theyfinished one and two in clutch scoring last season (Westbrook 199points on 39.1 shooting, Durant 194 on 40.6), but this year, it’s amuch more cohesive, natural attack.

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

this is a defensive nightmare. we should put PG on westbrook, and collison on sefolosha. otherwise, westbrook would destroy us.

That might be even worse. Sefolosha should bury jumpers and three's all day if Collison guards him. It's bad that Westbrook has 3 inches on Collison, it would be worse if he's guarding a guy that has 7 inches on him. Might as well not even guard him because he would have no chance of impacting Sefolosha's shots. At least Collison will have defenders backing him up when Westbrook drives. Nobody would be able to help him as Sefolosha shoots over him with ease.

"I have never taken the high road, but I tell other people to ’cause then there’s more room for me on the low road."

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

That might be even worse. Sefolosha should bury jumpers and three's all day if Collison guards him. It's bad that Westbrook has 3 inches on Westbrook, it would be worse if he's guarding a guy that has 7 inches on him. Might as well not even guard him because he would have no chance of impacting Sefolosha's shots. At least Collison will have defenders backing him up when Westbrook drives. Nobody would be able to help him as Sefolosha shoots over him with ease.

i think this is a case of pick your poison. i would much rather have sefolosha take jump shots than have westbrook driving to the lane at will.

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

Sefolosha is shooting 46.8% from 3 on the season. That's against guys that are a lot closer to 6'7 than 6'0. I think he'd have a career game taking jump shots if Collison is on him.

i think sefolosha will get open jumpers either way, when westbrook drives by collison and kicks it out to sefolosha, or if collison himself is guarding thabo. not a knock against DC, like an earlier poster said, westbrook's first step is practically unstoppable. i think that collison can do a decent job against him, yes there's a huge height difference, but collison can use his quickness to his advantage.

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

Sefolosha is shooting 46.8% from 3 on the season. That's against guys that are a lot closer to 6'7 than 6'0. I think he'd have a career game taking jump shots if Collison is on him.

Are we talking about the same Thabo Sefolosha who only attempts 1.5 3PG? He's under a strict only shoot if you're open policy. I suppose he could have a career game, but in Thabo's case that is something like actually cracking double digits for once.

The Following User Says Thank You to Dgreenwell3 For This Useful Post:

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

the next issue is how to guard harden. dahntay should be able to slow him down. hill should have no problem with fisher. the only matchup that has me worried is durant. granger can't get frustrated trying to guard the league's 2nd leading scorer, he's gonna get his points no matter what

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

That might be even worse. Sefolosha should bury jumpers and three's all day if Collison guards him. It's bad that Westbrook has 3 inches on Collison, it would be worse if he's guarding a guy that has 7 inches on him. Might as well not even guard him because he would have no chance of impacting Sefolosha's shots. At least Collison will have defenders backing him up when Westbrook drives. Nobody would be able to help him as Sefolosha shoots over him with ease.

Sefolosha isn't exactly a world class jump shooter. He does shoot 47%, but those are basically wide open corner 3's. (Think Dahntay Jones). He has also only taken 47 3's in 30 game.

He shoots 2 pointers at a 41% rate and only scores 5 points per game. I'm thinking his 3pt success this season is partially due to sample size...he has a good rhythm going and he's shooting wide open. Against Chicago, Collison proved he was capable of chasing Korver around and not giving him enough room to set up for a jumper. And Korver is a far superior shooter

Sefolosha is out there so they have a defensive player who won't take shots away from Westbrook and Durant.

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

the next issue is how to guard harden. dahntay should be able to slow him down. hill should have no problem with fisher. the only matchup that has me worried is durant. granger can't get frustrated trying to guard the league's 2nd leading scorer, he's gonna get his points no matter what

He does better with guys like KD than he does with Uber athletic freaks like Lebron and Iggy.

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

The key to this game will be George Hill, will he be able to check Westbrook and keep out of foul trouble so that PG can utilize his length against Durant. Granger will check Harden, I have no doubts in his ability to do that.

But if Hill can't check Westbrook then we'll have to rotate PG over, then put Danny on Durant. Not sure if Hill can guard Harden.

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

Anybody who can guard Westbrook can guard Harden, imo. Harden is a better jump shooter, but not as fast as WestBrook. And he's only 6'5", not a huge jump for George Hill. And if he can't guard either well, he's still our best defending point haha.

If Collison isn't playing well offensively, I hope Vogel isn't shy about going with Hill for his defense though.

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

Guys, Thabo is strictly in there because they want to keep Harden as the off the bench super scorer. That's it. He's a defender, that's basically it.

Exactly.

On the "who to guard" argument. There are not a lot of people that can guard Westbrook. Actually, the one player that can shut down Westbrook completely is himself. Just let him get angry and make stupid decisions. He is not a good decision maker.

Regarding the game now. I just hope that we can compete. The Thunder have one of the best defensive frontcourts (if not the best) and I really hope that Roy has a good game against them.

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

Sefolosha isn't exactly a world class jump shooter. He does shoot 47%, but those are basically wide open corner 3's. (Think Dahntay Jones). He has also only taken 47 3's in 30 game.

He shoots 2 pointers at a 41% rate and only scores 5 points per game. I'm thinking his 3pt success this season is partially due to sample size...he has a good rhythm going and he's shooting wide open. Against Chicago, Collison proved he was capable of chasing Korver around and not giving him enough room to set up for a jumper. And Korver is a far superior shooter

Sefolosha is out there so they have a defensive player who won't take shots away from Westbrook and Durant.

He's out there if a team decides to put a 6'10 defender on Westbrook and a 6'0 defender on him. If the team throws everything at Westbrook and Durant in an obvious move like putting Collison on Sefolosha, he'll knock down 3 after 3 after 3. Some might view it as being one step ahead, I view it as throwing in the towel. You don't put a 6'0 defender on a 6'7 shooting guard imo. If they feel it's worth putting George on Wesbrook, bench Collison. Start Hill or Barbosa. They're still undersized at 6'3 but a 6'0 guy isn't going to bother Sefolosha. He doesn't even have to be wide open, all of his looks will be open. There will be no hand coming at his face to make him flinch. It will be clean look after clean look. Jmo but Collison on Thabo is a bad idea.

Fortunately, I doubt it will be an issue. I don't think the coaching staff will put Collison on Sefolosha. Guess we'll see but doesn't sound like a good idea to give up 7 inches and 55lbs to a spot up shooter who can shoot over Collison anytime he chooses. Those passes to the corner are going to be even more open. Collison has no length to defend it.

"I have never taken the high road, but I tell other people to ’cause then there’s more room for me on the low road."

Re: 4/6/2012 Game Thread #55: Pacers Vs. Thunder

A big key to tonight's game is for Roy and most importantly Dan Burke to understand that Perkins is absolutely zero threat to shoot a jump shot. So for the love of God do NOT switch and have Roy try and guard Westbrook.

I'd just as soon back off the pick and let Perkins have open 18' jump shots all day than to have Westbrook look like Sonic the Hedgehog gathering coins going to the bucket with Roy in tow.

Heck I'd even rather have Westbrook have open 18' shoots than the misery that will ensue if Westbrook can just get to the lane time after time.

Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13